Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes - Eggless

These Soft Strawberry cupcakes are made using fresh strawberries and paired with yummy Strawberry buttercream.No artificial Strawberry flavor or color is used here. 

Ingredients:

For the Strawberry Cupcakes:

All purpose flour	¾ cup
Corn flour	½ tblsp
Baking powder	¾ tsp
Baking soda	¼  tsp
Salt	a pinch
Fine granulated sugar(Increase the sugar quantity if you want to make the cupcakes without frosting)	1/3 cup
Butter	¼ cup( 50 gms)
Thick curd	2 tblsp
Milk( see note below)	1/3 cup
Vanilla essence	1 tsp
Strawberry Puree(see note below)	3 to 4 tblsp

For the Strawberry Buttercream:

Butter	¼ cup
Icing sugar	1 cup
Milk	1 tsp
Vanilla essence	½ tsp
Strawberry Puree	2 to 3 tblsp

Method:

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• For the Strawberry Puree,Take around 4 to 5 big strawberries in a small mixer jar and blend well so that no big chunks are present.Small chunks are fine.The puree should be thick and not watery.Keep aside.   
• Preheat oven to 180 º C.Sift the Flour,Corn flour,Baking powder,Baking soda,salt twice.
• Melt the butter.Take the melted butter and sugar in a bowl and mix well with a whisk.Add the curd,vanilla essence and mix well till sugar is dissolved well.Now add the milk and mix.
• Add the sifted dry ingredients to this butter-sugar-milk mixture and mix well till there is no lumps.Don't over mix and mixing with a whisk is enough.
• Add the required strawberry puree to the batter and fold using a spatula.
• Spoon the batter evenly to a cupcake tray fitted with liners till 3/4 th full. Bake at 180 ºc  for around 18 to 20 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine took exactly 20 mins to bake.
• Allow to cool in the tray for 5 mins.Take out the cupcakes from the tray and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Strawberry Buttercream:

• Take the butter (softened to room temperature) in a bowl and beat using an electric beater for about 5 to 7 mins till the butter becomes pale and fluffy.This step is very important.
• Now slowly add the sifted icing sugar little by little and beat till all the sugar is mixed well.
• Add the milk and beat for a minute.Now add the strawberry puree little by little till you get the desired colour,flavour and consistency.Add more icing sugar if the frosting is thin.
• Frost the cupcake as desired. 

Note:

• The cupcakes are not overly sweet.So increase the sugar quantity especially when making the cupcakes without buttercream frosting.
• All the ingredients like curd,milk etc must be at room temperature for getting good soft cupcakes.
• If after adding the strawberry puree in the cake batter the batter is very thick add little milk to get desired consistency as shown in the image above.
• The above quantity yields 6 cupcakes.

       

Whole Wheat Strawberry Cake - Eggless

Eggless Strawberry Cake made using Whole Wheat Flour topped with strawberries and a nutty Streusel topping. 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

Whole Wheat Flour	1 cup
Baking Powder	1 tsp
Baking Soda	¼  tsp
Sugar	1/3 cup
Butter	3 tblsp
Thick curd	4 tblsp
Milk	½ cup
Vanilla essence	1 tsp
Strawberry halved	8

For the Streusel topping:

Wheat flour	2 tblsp
Butter	1 tblsp
Sugar	2 tblsp
Almonds sliced	¼ cup

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170 ° C.
• For the topping take the butter and flour and mix using finger tips till you get a crumbly mixture.Add the sugar and sliced almonds and mix well. 
• Sift the flour,baking powder and baking soda twice.
• Take the room temperature soft  butter in a bowl and add sugar. Beat with a hand whisk or electric beater till light and creamy. Add curd and mix with a whisk.Finally add vanilla essence and milk.
• Now add the sifted flour and mix till the flour is mixed well with the wet ingrediends and there are no lumps.
• Transfer the batter to a prepared cake pan(I have used 7 inch pan here). Tap the pan on the counter once and level it. Arrange the halved strawberries on the top. Now spread the prepared streusel toppping evenly over the strawberries covering the entire cake.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 170 °  for 30 to 35 mins or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool in the pan completely and then take it out.

Note:

• The cake is mildly sweet.Increase sugar if you want a very sweet cake.
• I have used fine granulated sugar in this recipe.
• All ingredients like butter,curd and milk are to be at room temperature .